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BANKING
• America First Credit Union has opened a location inside the Kent’s Market in Brigham City. It is the credit union’s second location in the city. Randy Christensen will serve as service center manager of the Brigham City Kent’s location. Christensen began his career with America First five years ago as a teller at the West Jordan location and quickly moved up the ranks, most recently serving as service center manager for the Salt Lake Hope Avenue Walmart branch.
DIVIDENDS
• The board of directors of Huntsman Corp., with main offices in Texas and Salt Lake City, has declared at 12.5-cent per share cash dividend on its common stock. The dividend is payable Dec. 29 to stockholders of record Dec. 15.
• The board of directors of SkyWest Inc., St. George, has declared a quarterly dividend of 8 cents per share. The dividend will be paid Jan. 5 to shareholders of record Dec. 29.
ENERGY/NATURAL RESOURCES
• LGCY Power, Lehi, has named Greg Butterfield as chairman of the board. Butterfield has more than 25 years of strategic experience. He has served in multiple executive, board and advisory roles, including with Omniture, and as chief executive officer of software firm Altiris, and most recently as chief executive officer of Vivint Solar and chairman of the Board of Trustees of Utah Valley University.
EXPANSIONS
• Sundance — a Salt Lake City-based retailer of apparel, footwear, jewelry, accessories, art and home décor — has opened a store near San Diego. Since August 2015, the company has opened stores in eight locations, adding to two legacy stores.
GOVERNMENT
• The Trump administration has appointed Bruce Richeson as the state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Utah Farm Service Agency. He previously served in that position from 2006-09. The Farm Service Agency serves farmers, ranchers and agricultural partners through the delivery of effective, efficient agricultural programs. Richeson has worked in various aspects of Utah’s agriculture industry, and most recently was a civilian contract negotiator for the U.S. Air Force at Hill Air Force Base. He graduated from Weber State University.
INVESTMENT
• Collective Medical, Salt Lake City, has secured $47.5 million in Series A funding. The company said the investment will be used to expand and advance the company’s care team collaboration network accelerating efforts to drive better patient outcomes nationwide. The funding was led by Kleiner Perkins. Bessemer Venture Partners, Maverick Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Providence Ventures, Peterson Ventures and Epic Ventures also participated in the round. The company plans to hire more than 100 people in the next 12-18 months, with most being based at the Salt Lake City headquarters.
• TaskEasy Inc., Salt Lake City, has secured $21.3 million in Series C financing. The round was led by River Cities Capital, with participation from Camber Creek, Moderne Ventures, Grotech Ventures, Access Venture Partners and Delta Electronics Capital. The company this month was approved for a Utah state tax credit incentive of $806,842 tied to the creation of 191 jobs over five years. The company’s website and mobile app connects property owners with contractors to get lawns mowed and snow cleared.
MANUFACTURING
• Purple Innovation LLC, Alpine, has named Mark Watkins as chief financial officer. Watkins most recently served as the CFO of Traeger Pellet Grills. He previously held various positions of increasing responsibility at Nu Skin Enterprises, including vice president of sales operations and vice president of finance, and he began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He graduated with both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in accounting from Brigham Young University. Purple designs and manufactures cushions, pillows and other comfort products.
PHILANTHROPY
• The Larry H. and Gail Miller Family Foundation has donated $5.3 million to the University of Utah to establish a diabetes prevention program called “Driving Out Diabetes: A Larry H. Miller Family Wellness Initiative.” The initiative will incorporate a three-pronged approach to attack diabetes through prevention and outreach, clinical care, and research and training. Additionally, the program will proactively deliver screening services to populations who are most vulnerable to developing diabetes.
• Kneaders Bakery & Café has donated $218,884 to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation to support childhood cancer research undertaken by Dr. Joshua Schiffman, a pediatric oncologist and cancer researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah. Schiffman’s lab is exploring how a cancer-fighting gene helps to ward off cancer in elephants, and how this information might be used to help children and adults who are affected by this disease, among other topics. During September, which was Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Kneaders locations throughout the nation sold elephant-shaped sugar cookies and “Hope Fights Childhood Cancer” campaign-themed retail items to benefit Schiffman’s work. During the past two years, the company has raised about $360,800 for the research.
• Dominion Energy, with operations in Utah, recently donated $550,000 to 11 nonprofit organizations providing support services to active duty, veterans and military families in seven states served by the company. Each organization will receive $50,000 for initiatives that help meet the needs of veterans and their families. The grants are being made through the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm. The National Ability Center, Park City, was among the recipients for its adaptive sports and recreational programs for transitioning service members and their families.
• The PRMI Giving Network recently partnered with the Kids In Need Foundation to raise $89,000 to provide free school supplies to Title I schools across the U.S. The eight-week campaign will provide 74,880 school supplies. The PRMI Giving Network, started in September, is part of PRMI, a Salt Lake City-based mortgage lender.
• Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment will donate more than 1,200 winter coats to students at 19 local elementary, middle and high schools as part of the “NBA Cares Season of Giving” and to demonstrate the organization’s commitment to service and community outreach. Now in its fifth year, Coats for Kids is hosted on behalf of the organization’s sports and entertainment units and corporate partners in lieu of holiday gifts. More than 5,000 winter coats have been donated to those in need since the program’s inception. In conjunction with the United Way of Salt Lake, this year’s recipient schools are Copperview Elementary (Midvale), Cottonwood High School (Murray), David Gourley Elementary (Kearns), East Midvale Elementary (Midvale), Granite Park Junior High (Salt Lake City), Guadalupe School (Salt Lake City), Hillcrest High School (Midvale), Kearns Junior High (Kearns), Kearns High School (Kearns), Lincoln Elementary (Salt Lake City), Midvale Elementary (Midvale), Midvale Middle School (Sandy), Moss Elementary (Salt Lake City), Oquirrh Hill Elementary (Kearns), Roosevelt Elementary (Millcreek), Sandy Elementary (Sandy), South Kearns Elementary (Kearns), West Kearns Elementary (Kearns) and Woodrow Wilson Elementary (Salt Lake City).
REAL ESTATE
• Cushman & Wakefield has named Gary Mangum as managing principal of the firm’s Utah offices, based in Salt Lake City. Mangum has nearly 40 years of experience in real estate and related business. Mangum most recently served as the regional manager and principal broker of the Salt Lake City office of Marcus & Millichap. Prior to that, he was partner and managing director with Synergy Real Estate Development, managing director and principal broker for NAI West, managing director and principal broker at Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, and a partner and principal broker at Prime Commercial. He was recently the president-elect of the Utah Chapter of NAIOP and on an advisory board position of the Utah CCIM chapter. Trigger Reital, who previously served as managing principal of the Utah offices, will remain with Cushman & Wakefield in Salt Lake City.
RECOGNITIONS
• The University of Utah has been ranked as one of the top 25 schools in the nation for entrepreneurship education. The rankings were compiled by The Princeton Review and mark the seventh time for the UofU to be in the top 25. Led by the David Eccles School of Business and its Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, the UofU was ranked No. 15 for undergraduate and No. 23 for graduate programs. The year-ago rankings had the undergraduate program listed No. 18 and the graduate program No. 15. The Princeton Review surveyed more than 300 schools offering entrepreneurship studies for the rankings. Thirty-eight institutions’ undergraduate and/or graduate programs made the roster of top schools for 2018. Details are at princetonreview.com/best-business-schools.